Feb 13, Colombo: Sri Lanka's tourist arrivals rose 2.2 percent in January 2019 compared to the same period last year, the data released today by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) showed.

The month recorded 244,239 tourists arriving in the country compared to the 238,924 arrived in January 2018.

This month, the largest source market for tourists was India, followed by China and the United Kingdom.
Europe became the largest source of tourist traffic to Sri Lanka with 50% of the total traffic received in January 2019. Asia and Pacific accounted for 41% of the total traffic, America 6%, Middle East 2% and Africa 1%.

According to SLTDA report for the month, India, China, United Kingdom, Germany and Russia were Sri Lanka's top five international tourist generating markets in the month of January this year. India was the largest source of tourist traffic to Sri Lanka with 16% of the total traffic received in January 2019. China accounted for 11% of the total traffic; while UK, Germany and Russia accounted for 11%, 6% and 5% respectively.

Arrivals from North America rose 4.3 percent to 13,833 in January and the arrivals from US rose 4.6 percent to 7,501during the month while arrivals from Canada increased 2.8 percent.

Tourist arrivals from Europe increased by 4.8 percent with the arrival of 122,761 tourists. Most of the tourists came from UK (26,036), followed by Germany (14,027) and France (11,892).

Tourist arrivals from Middle East declined by 40.5 percent with the arrival of 5,042 visitors compared to the 8,480 arrived in January 2018.

Tourist arrivals from Asia & Pacific increased by 1.8 percent with 99,879 arriving in the island. Tourist arrivals from India increased by 5.6 percent with 40,049 visitors while arrivals from China increased by 8.8 percent to record 26,414 arrivals.

Arrivals from Australia recorded 9.7 percent increase with 10,368 visitors entering the country in January 2019.